LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The initial phase of the Sulphur fire cleanup process is under way, as local, state and federal officials prepare to begin the bulk of the work at the start of November.
The Sulphur fire, which began on Oct. 9, destroyed 168 structures, including 136 homes, and 2,207 acres.
The fire began within hours of devastating wildland fires that also ripped through Lake’s neighboring counties, burning around 8,000 buildings and killing 38 people in Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties.
Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties have more destroyed homes in this month’s wildland fires than Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, combined, had in the recent hurricanes, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency Regional Administrator Robert Fenton.
He said that many homes impacted by the hurricanes have significantly more major and/or minor damage, but are repairable. The key point, he added, is that it takes much longer to build a house than repair it.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the continuation of the declaration of a local health emergency made by Lake County Health Officer Dr. Tait in response to the Sulphur fire.
Tait told Lake County News on Thursday that the goal is to get the cleanup done as quickly as possible.
“We really want to get in and out of there before it gets rainy,” she said.
The county of Lake and the Clearlake City Council are forming an agreement for mutual aid and emergency management so that Lake County Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski – who has overseen cleanups that include the Rocky, Jerusalem, Valley and Clayton fires – can support the city of Clearlake in its portion of the debris removal process. He said that agreement is necessary for the county to be reimbursed.
Ruminski said the county’s health department has always acted as the health department for the city, explaining that only four cities across California have their own health department.
The council approved the contract at its Thursday night meeting.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said the county also will assist the city by handling the collection of insurance reimbursements for debris removal.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, or CalOES, reported that the Consolidated Debris Removal Program will be conducted in two phases in California’s fire-impacted counties.
In phase one, which began Monday in Lake County, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is doing a sweep of household hazardous wastes – which includes includes chemicals that are ignitable, toxic, corrosive and reactive, such as pool chemicals, antifreeze, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, propane tanks, paint, bleach and ammunition – across the impacted properties, officials reported.
Ruminski said the plan is to complete the household hazardous waste sweep by Saturday.
CalRecycle has led the debris cleanup effort in Lake County in previous fires, but this time around it will be handled by the US Army Corps of Engineers, which also will do the work in Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, Ruminski said. CalRecycle instead will focus on Butte, Yuba and Nevada counties.
“This is being operated as a project with seven counties,” Ruminski said.
FEMA and CalOES reported that the second phase of the process, in which properties are cleaned of fire-related debris, is scheduled to begin by Nov. 1 and continue through the fall and winter.
Sean Smith of CalOES said each site usually takes two working days to be cleared, then another two days for testing. The testing results usually have a lag time of one to two weeks.
In 2015, during the Valley fire cleanup, there were 140 debris crews working in Lake County, where nearly 2,000 structures were burned. Smith said 1,152 properties in Lake County were cleared in 88 days.
In this latest effort, he said hundreds of lots across the region will be cleared at the same time, with up to 600 teams of five to seven people each expected to fan out over California’s fire-damaged areas.
He said he believes all of the debris removal will be done by early 2018, although officials are anticipating overwhelming the labs in California and neighboring states that conduct the kind of soils testing that’s part of this process.
Ruminski said property owners also have the option of hiring private contractors to do the cleanup work.
Officials said that the debris removal program only requires that property owners pay the amount their insurance sets aside for debris removal. They have found that the insurance never pays enough toward the process so they don’t expect full reimbursement.
Compared to the damage in Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, Lake has far fewer structures to clean up, Ruminski said.
“Even if they don’t start here first, they want to finish here first,” he said, explaining that the resources assigned here can then be moved to another area.
Ruminski said so far 40 rights-of-entry forms have so far been submitted by property owners wanting to participate in the government-led cleanup. He said 25 of those forms are active, 10 are pending review and director signature, and five others are pending with issues.
Officials are recommending that all fire-impacted property owners sign the right-of-entry forms for the cleanup process.
They said that property owners can always change their mind and hire a private contractor to do the work.
Homeowners in Lake and other impacted counties can find a right-of-entry form online at www.wildfirerecovery.org.
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Local, state and federal officials report on Sulphur fire cleanup process
- Elizabeth Larson
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